If the Denver Broncos win the Super Bowl on Sunday, you can bet that you'll hear nonstop analysis about Peyton Manning's passing, the stellar play of the receiving corps, and how cornerback Champ Bailey marshaled his veteran's savvy and finally landed that championship ring.

Conspicuously absent in that postgame parsing will be any mention of Tiffany Deines and the argyle socks — gray and purple with orange stitching — that she has worn for good luck during every playoff game this season.

Fan Superstitions

She is among thousands of Broncos boosters hewing to offbeat game-day superstitions to ensure their team's success. They sit in the same chairs, invoke the powers of orange sock monkeys, pass around a lucky football on third down, hold their beer cans a certain way and clap their hands twice when Manning yells "Omaha!"

Deines, who works at the Colorado Department of Education, started wearing her game-day argyles two years ago. And except for that unmentionable loss to the Baltimore Ravens in January 2013, they've worked.

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"For the 2014 playoff games, I have worn the same shirt, with the socks, for every game for good luck, too," she said. "I will definitely be wearing my lucky socks and shirt for the Super Bowl."

For the record, Deines also has a special pair of purple argyle socks that she wears on Saturdays during Kansas State Wildcats games. "Socks are kind of my lucky item when it comes to football."

Michaela Palamar of Denver has followed the Broncos since infancy.

"My dad sat me down in front of the TV on Sundays and said, 'You will appreciate this,' " she recalled.

Her dad has had season tickets since the 1970s, so Palamar goes to most home games.

"We have many superstitions, but I think the biggest is that I paint his hair orange-and-blue for every game," she said. "He gets his hair specifically cut for a mohawk, and I will gel it up and paint it.

"Another superstition is one that I have created with my husband," Palamar said. "He got me an authentic Steve Atwater jersey from back in the day. The jersey is a men's size, so it is huge on me. So I made him start wearing it every time the Broncos play — it looks better on him anyway — and the Broncos have not lost when he wears it. Knock on wood."

Four Bronco fanatics gathered for lunch at the Tavern Uptown on 17th Ave and Pearl Street in Denver on Thursday, January 30, 2014. They shared details of some of their superstitions and traditions for watching Broncos games. Chris Palamar, left and wife Michaela Palamar, standing, with friends Emily Wilson and Nathan Majure, far right. Chris Palamar wears his wife's Steve Atwater jersey, and whenever he does, he claims the Broncos win. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Not all superstitions involve clothing.

At Marshall Snider's house, game-day guests are treated to a rather involved ritual.

"We pass a football around while watching the game, and if you are holding the ball when the Broncos do something good — score, make a third-down stop or a turnover — the person holding the ball gets it back the next time the same situation arises," Snider said. "If the Broncos fail while you are holding the ball you won't get it back in a similar situation."

RTD civil engineer John Ewy harbors a ritual that goes back 20 years.

"During the game I will place the TV remote upside down and backward," he said. "Works every time."

Still, come Sunday he plans to augment the remote-control ploy.

"This year I am going to channel the Super Bowl greatness of the Elway years to this year's team by wearing my Terrell Davis jersey underneath my Peyton Manning jersey," he said.

James Gilbert of Denver covers most of the superstition bases, and he's particularly mindful of not bringing down the wrath of the football gods via smack-talking. (Hear that, Richard Sherman?)

"You don't brag about your team," Gilbert said. "We have friends that make special lucky nachos, and you need to wear every Bronco-themed gear you have.

"And your pets, too."

Perhaps no game-day superstition is simpler than the one practiced by Hilltop resident Brian Melodia.

"I drink beer during the game," he said. "Does that count?"

Hey, whatever works.

William Porter: 303-954-1877, wporter@denverpost.com or twitter.com/williamporterdp

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